Obama made the comments during a visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday.
"The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in the land of our forefathers," Netanyahu said in a video posted to X/Twitter. "Our history is not a colonial enterprise. Our land is not stolen land. This is our homeland."
Netanyahu called Obama's Belfast comments a "regrettable statement," emphasizing the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, noting its biblical name, "Judea."
"That's where Jews come from," he said. "And we've been attached to it for thousands of years."
The prime minister differentiated Israel from European nations with colonial pasts, saying that the Jews in Israel are not "the Dutch in Indonesia... the Belgians in the Congo, we're Jews in Judea."
Regarding the path to a peace agreement, Netanyahu said that the obstacle to peace is not Israel, but rather the enemies in the region shared by Israel and the United States.
Specifically, Netanyahu noted the enemies' "refusal to recognize the Jewish people's right to a state of our own, in any boundary."
He cited chants of "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," which are common in states like Iran, a shared enemy of the US and Israel.
"A peace built on illusions will crash against the rocks of Middle Eastern reality," said Netanyahu. "Israel will not gamble with its survival to accommodate those who refuse to accept the facts of history, to accept our right to exist, or who wish to appease terror.
"We certainly do not; we never will," he concluded.
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